For the first part of 2016, my iPhone camera lens had a crack in it. This was a huge bummer, because it prevented me from creating iPhone Portraits. It was the first time in about 3 years I wasn’t creating spontaneous portraits with my iPhone. As someone who usually doesn’t create an image without some sort of production, creating a spontaneous portrait on a whim is an incredibly satisfying and exciting experience.

Not having a fully functioning iPhone camera for several months was a pivotal time for this project. A little part of me was feeling burnt out and tired. In the first three years, I had photographed over 300 iPhone portraits of family, friends, and strangers. I wondered if I would ever regain my excitement for this project if I stopped pushing myself to create.

Eventually in the Spring, I did get a new iPhone. The 6s. As soon as I picked up the phone, I couldn’t wait to make an iPhone Portrait. What I began to realize is the time away from this project gave me new energy and excitement to explore and push myself further. My pace has slowed a bit for several reasons, but my excitement and focus has only grown. The above images are a handful of the recent portraits I have made this Summer and Fall. I will continue to share more about this project as I move forward.

Are you going to be in New York for PhotoPlus Expo? It’s happening October 19-22, and I will be speaking on Thursday the 20th. If you are going to be in town, I would love to see you there. I am giving a talk sponsored by Tether Tools about how to get the most out of your photo shoot opportunities.

Life on set at a commercial photo shoot can be daunting, particularly if the client chooses to be present. John will talk to you about how he manages to make his set feel comfortable for the subject, client and photography team, all the while having a great time and getting awesome pictures. Learn about production, managing workflow, handling clients requests and expectations, building lasting relationships, and the tools that will make everything easier to navigate. First 100 registrants will receive 20% OFF if you sign up with this link – SIGN UP NOW!

You always remember your firsts, and yesterday was the first time my new series Uniform has been published or recognized in the fine art world. Thank you IGNANT! They do such a wonderful job curating, and it is a thrill to be a part of that. Be sure to follow IGNANT on Instagram for more inspiration.

I love making portraits of other artists. True, a portrait of anyone is a wonderful mystery waiting to be unlocked, but I always have an extra sense of excitement before I make a portrait of an artist. I think it is because they are often willing to experiment and collaborate, and are more willing to be patient while I exact my desire for perfection and exploration. Louie Gong was no exception.

Louie Gong is an artist, activist and educator, among other things. His heritage is Nooksack/Chinese/French/Scottish, so he brings a really unique perspective to his work, along with a modern sense of style. His murals are incredible. When I first saw his work, it felt somewhat familiar in the sense that there is a fair amount of Native American art here in the Pacific Northwest. But very quickly you realize that something is different about this piece: a modern sensibility that at the same time still feels authentic to its roots. Then I start to see the Chinese influence which seems so subtle at first glance. It’s quite brilliant.

Louie just opened a really cool new store here in Seattle called Eighth Generation. I want the blanket he is wearing, which he also designed. Christmas wishlist… If you aren’t in the Seattle area, fear not, they have a great online store as well.

While I didn’t use my iPhone to make any of these member portraits or videos for BECU, it was my iPhone Portrait project that helped shape the direction of this ad campaign by DNA. It is incredibly gratifying to work on a project like this, when there is a close tie to something as personal as my iPhone Portraits. Exploring the human face through photography and video is the one thing I have never grown tired of. Every new person I photograph presents a new opportunity (or sometimes a challenge), and I am always learning from the experience of photographing people. Below are some of the portraits I made from the nearly 50 people I photographed for this project. Everyone is an actual BECU member. Working with “real” people is a lot of fun for me because they don’t come in with any expectations as to what they think I want them to do. And there are always some surprises, which I think makes the portraits all the more interesting.

If you were watching the summer Olympics this year, you may have seen these commercials, which I directed. The billboards, bus wraps, posters, etc. are all over Seattle, as well. Big thanks to BECU and DNA, especially Lianne Onart, Dave Echenoz, Molly Woodruff, and Dan Gross.

I always try to keep people on their toes and make things as fun as possible. To me, that means taking awkward pictures of the ACD Lianne and BECU member, Kiki.
My daughter, right as she discovered / I taught her, you can yell, “M&M’s” on set, and they will magically appear.”

Identity is an interesting thing. We dress and decorate ourselves to convey a message to others, communicating to them with intentionality or not “this is what I want you to think about who I am.” What is interesting about this, though, is that most people don’t interpret our message the way we intend. Our identity and the opinions of others are inextricably linked together, for better or worse. Our identity forms opinions. Others opinions mold and form our identity. Identity is something I have been thinking about a lot over the last several years as I try to understand more about myself, and how I view others. In 2015, I created a portrait series called Members Only, where I styled 13 people to look exactly the same. Once I finished that series, I wanted to explore multiple identities in a single person, and wondered what was the extent of the range of a single human face. In a portrait, visually, how much can one person change? With that, I give you Con Man.

Howard Cogitz is one of the most prolific American con men of the 20th century. His first known con was in 1958 while running a fake real estate development company in Florida. At best count, he walked away with over 3 million dollars from nearly 16 individuals and families.

In 1963 he spread out, with known ties to Las Vegas, New York, and San Francisco. It seems he may have primarily lived in Florida under many different aliases, which indicates he may have originally been from there. His main game was to create fake corporations in the real estate business and offer investment opportunities to people beginning to think about retirement. His work can be traced from 1958 to 1971 when all signs of him vanished. He was never caught or arrested, although there is record of him receiving a traffic ticket for speeding in Los Angeles during 1964 under the name Charles Barber.

Below are some behind the scenes pictures for those of you who like to see how things are made. A very big thank you to Jennifer Popochock, Alexis Steinman, Brian Kirk, Viktor Fejes, Duffy De Armas, my wife Nichelle, and Peter Hanson. Behind the scenes pictures by Peter Hanson. I feel like this is just the start of something pretty exciting.

As a youngster growing up in California, I always wanted to be a Hollywood dog trainer. Well, that didn’t work out so well. But I do still love dogs, and I love working with them, despite what WC Fields said, “Never work with children or animals.” Being the rebel I am, I decided to work with both children and animals on this new ad campaign for Seattle Humane with The Hilt agency. And why stop there! Let’s also add a super wild drag queen, and a family with three teenage girls while we are at it. You know, just to make things more interesting!

Seattle Humane is a wonderful organization and I sincerely hope these images make them a lot of money so they can save even more animal lives. And some human lives too…

Here is my latest directing work for iBobber. I hope you enjoy the video, laugh out loud, and suddenly feel the urge to buy an iBobber. The fishfinder that syncs with your smartphone or tablet. 🙂
Big thank you to Fred Hammerquist, Alex Lebedev, Jeff Siegel, and Sage Price.
I am looking forward to doing a lot more directing in 2016. Merry Christmas everyone if I don’t talk to you in the next week.

Here is our first Survival Guide video sneak peek! This is a glimpse into the workshop weekend, delving into the topics of marketing, branding, what to charge, style, running a business and much more. We have a year of Survival Guide weekend workshops under our belts now, and I have to admit, I never could have imagined how amazing this adventure would end up being. Not only is this the content and subject matter I am most passionate about teaching, but the relationships, stories, encouragement, fun, good food, memories, and incredible art we have been able to be a part of has made this so worth it. I was reflecting on this past year, and how far Survival Guide has come, and I realized that coincidence or not, this has been by far my best year creatively. No question. Survival Guide has taught me to push the boundaries and create the work I have been setting aside for far too long. That was our intention for those who attend, but I never thought about the fact that I needed to hear and experience this as much as anyone else. Teaching Survival Guide has forced me to grow and learn, and I’m realizing I may have learned more than any of the attendees even!